REHB 564

Rehabilitation Assessment and Evaluation

This course covers basic principles and theories underlying psychological tests, including reliability and validity. It focuses on a variety of assessment procedures including both observational methods and more traditional tests. Instruction in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of intelligence, personality, and interest inventories are provided. Emphasis is on special considerations necessary for using traditional tests with persons with disabilities and on specific tests developed for use with this population.

This foundation course is offered in two sequential parts. It is designed to provide an overview of medical terminology and anatomy and physiology of the organ system; describe major diseases and associated etiologies, pathologies, and disabilities; delineate the diagnosis and prognosis of major injuries and disabling conditions; and outline the vocational implications. Upon successful completion of this course, the students will be able to read and understand medical reports; assess functional abilities and transferable skills required to develop a rehabilitation plan; communicate effectively with medical professionals and health care workers; and understand the dynamics of adjustment to disabilities, and the psychosocial impact of disability.

REHB 565

Research Methods and Statistics

This course covers basic skills for conducting research following qualitative and quantitative methodology. Research design and methodology are coupled with the statistical tools necessary for analyzing research data. Emphasis is placed on data collection, analysis, interpretation required, and report writing.

REHB 570

Occupational Information and Vocational Analysis

Provides knowledge of job requirements and the determination of the employment capabilities of persons with disabilities. Jobs are considered in terms of necessary prerequisites, needed skills, and task demands. Methods of obtaining occupational information and using the same to help consumers make appropriate career choices based on their potentials, skills, education, interests, and aptitudes are included.

REHB 504

Rehabilitation Caseload Management and Reporting

This course focuses on counseling strategies and caseload management methods for public and private rehabilitation. The course work facilitates development of the following skills: interpersonal, intake interview, goal setting, time management, and case report writing and documentation. The overall goals of the course are to assist students to become effective diagnosticians, interviewers, goal-setters, coordinators of caseloads, and service providers to culturally diverse consumers with disabilities.

This supervised clinical experience of 100 clock hours is designed to provide students with the first formal opportunity to utilize the knowledge acquired through course work. The practicum site is selected, in consultation with the faculty supervisor, from a list of accredited agencies serving consumers with a variety of disabilities, especially those from culturally diverse backgrounds. Pre-requisite: The student must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, competencies, and professionalism necessary to provide appropriate services to people with significant disabilities.

This course focuses on the theories and techniques of placement appropriate to assist persons with disabilities to obtain and maintain competitive employment. Topics covered include: job development, job restructuring and modification, labor market analysis, assessment of environmental and attitudinal barriers, and the use of specialized placement techniques.

Students are required to complete a total of 600 clock hours of supervised clinical experience in two semesters (300 hours each). The courses provide intensive student exposure to the rehabilitation process in state rehabilitation agencies, community rehabilitation programs, and other private for-profit and non-profit agencies. The requirements for these courses are described in the Internship Manual. Pre-requisite: The student must demonstrate knowledge, skills, competencies, and professionalism neccessary to provide appropriate services to people with significant disabilities.

REHB 599

Special Project/Thesis

Students are required to identify an area of need in the rehabilitation services system in consultation with the committee chair and to develop a rehabilitation resource book (e.g., manual, guideline, handbook) that will improve the quality of service delivery for persons with disabilities.

REHB 600

Research for Master' s Thesis

Students who intend to complete a thesis are required to: build upon their prospectus formulated in REHB 599; design and execute the proposed research; analyze the results and write findings in a scholarly manner following the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual (latest edition) and Graduates School guidelines; and orally defend the thesis.

The course is designed to: 1. heighten the student's sensitivity to the unique needs of consumers of diverse cultural origins; 2. assist students to become culturally competent rehabilitation counselors; and 3. facilitate integration of knowledge and skills necessary to provide quality services. Students will compare and contrast traditional and ethnocentric approaches to counseling.

This course focuses upon the empirical as well as the philosophical basis of advocacy, empowerment, and ethics. These three topics play an important role in the professional life of the rehabilitation counselor. Upon successful completion of the course, students are able to better utilize the rehabilitation and counseling principles taught in other classes by re-interpreting some of the tenets from the perspective of ethics, empowerment, and advocacy.

Students become familiar with the rapidly changing ethnic composition of rehabilitation consumers in this country, and the effects which this diversity has on the delivery of rehabilitation services. Exposure to the unique perspectives and needs of a variety of disparate ethnic minorities is provided, and students explore alternative service delivery options which will meet the unique needs of culturally diverse consumers and their significant others.

This course focuses on the theories and principles of the major vocational evaluation and assessment systems in the VEWA lab, such as TOWER, JEVS, SINGER, MICROTOWER, VALPAR, VDARE, AND MCCARRON DIAL as they apply to the assessment of the vocational potential of individuals with disabilities. The course stresses the use of the worker qualification profile as supported by the U.S. Department of Labor for the analysis, classification and descriptions of all jobs listed in the O*Net classification system. Didactic experience in testing, report writing, and interpretations are provided.

REHB 573

Principles and Practices of Work Adjustment in Rehabilitation

The course focuses on the history, theory, and empirical model associated with the practice of work adjustment services. Particular attention is given to behavioral models used in work adjustment such as individual contingency contracting, leveling systems, and token economy. Students will learn the appropriate uses of sheltered workshops, pre-vocational and vocational exploration, job preparation, job acquisition, and job maintenance in the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. Students are taught concepts of job modifications, adaptive equipment, job coaching and work hardening.

The objective of this course is to integrate the vocational evaluation and work adjustment theories, process, and practices in the field with a focus on enhancing the employability skills of persons with disabilities. The course emphasizes indepth use of cross code information, analyses of work behavior, worker qualification profile (WQP), residual functional capacity evaluation, job analyses, disability determination, work prognosis, and transferable skills analyses of people with multiple disabilities. These techniques require creative use of labor market statistics and databases for local employers and availability for local jobs. The course covers Career Exploration, including the use of commercial career exploration programs and the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Students are expected to write expert testimony reports from assigned scenarios of injured workers, which are appropriate for attorneys, insurance carriers and Longshore administrative law judges.

REHB 575

Applications of Assistive Technology in Vocational Rehabilitation 

This Internet-based course reviews the applications of assistive technology as applied to the needs of individuals with disabilities. The course covers various types of assistive technology (AT) including: computer access, augmentative communication, electronic devices for activities of daily living, wheelchairs and seating, and vehicle modifications. The course includes the application of clinically-based strategies for determining an individual’s need for and acceptance of assistive technology to improve functional outcomes.

This Internet-supported course reviews, in detail, clinical evaluations of assistive technology as applied to the needs of persons with disabilities. The course covers various assessments for assistive technology including: computer access, augmentative communication, electronic devices for activities of daily living, home and jobsite modifications, wheelchairs and seating, and vehicle modifications.

REHB 577

Assistive Technology Access for Racial and Ethnic Minorities

This Internet-supported course is designed to provide the student with an overview of issues related to access of assistive technology (AT) services for diverse populations. This class will focus on the following three main areas relevant to competencies and standards for rehabilitation professionals: (a) knowledge about minority populations, (b) attitudes towards ethnic minorities, and (c) acquisition of communication skills. Students will study the effects of culture, ethnicity, and race and their impact on the rehabilitation process. Indicators for successful completion of this course are the following: (a) awareness about self and others' attitudes and (b) beliefs and sensitivity to cultural differences (understanding that differences do exist).